A judge Tuesday upheld an award of $66 million to two men who said evangelist Tony Alamo ordered them to be beaten and placed on fasts and verbally abused them while they were members of his southwest Arkansas-based ministry.

After deliberating less than two hours, a jury Thursday awarded two men $66 million for their claims that evangelist Tony Alamo ordered them to be beaten, placed them on fasts and verbally abused them while they were members of his southwest Arkansas-based ministry.

A woman testified Wednesday that her son getting slapped in the face and struck with a wooden paddle when he was 14 and a member of the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries was “the best thing that ever happened to him” and that he later told her he deserved it.

After the second time he was beaten at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries compound in southwest Arkansas, Spencer Ondrisek testified Tuesday, he would stay up late at night, praying and worrying about what might happen to him next. He said he even considered suicide.

An attorney for the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries on Wednesday acknowledged that the church’s lawsuit against the Arkansas Department of Human Services has legal shortcomings but maintained that a judge dismissed the case for the wrong reason.